Nooruz, New Year, Bishkek

It was chucking it down when I took this picture. It was about February time, Islamic New Year, and thousands of people had gathered in Ala Too Square to celebrate. The fireworks were amazing and I pointed my new camera up on the Fireworks setting hoping for the best, and I got it. This is my favourite photograph, a fluke, but one to be proud of nonetheless.

Southern Kyrgyzstan

We'd already been on the road for 18 hours so by this time civilisation couldn't come quick enough. But at the same time, this photograph is very special to me. It appeals to my reclusive side, the part of me that would dearly love to leave it all behind and ride out into the steppes, just man and horse.

Second Pyramid, Giza

I honestly couldn't decide if they were bigger or smaller than I expected. But when I went inside I remember never having felt so claustro. But it was worth it. There isn't much to see, but it's more where you are than what you can see.

Firenze Skyline

Well I'm not the first or last person to visit Florence, and many of the others have more to tell, but it's one of Italy's proudest cities, and this picture reminds me where a good third of my heart beats most of the time.

Mount Sinai

What's that strange object in the sky? No, really. I never saw it when I took this picture, I was focusing on the significance of one of the most famous mountains in the world. Although in some ways it doesn't seem so important (or high) from this angle. But climbing it was more uplifting, if you pardon the pun, and something people should be sure of doing if they're in the area.

Venice

Venice may have seen better days but it remains, for me, the greatest expression of creativity to be found anywhere in architecture, not for its individual buildings which can be rivalled by many, but for its uniqueness and magic that sadly face a challenge to survive. It is a considered ambition of mine to work there in future, and to live in Venice itself as a Venetian and not a curious spectator.

Proud to be Egyptian

My ego

This is near Bishkek, in the Ala Archa National Park. I took this on a day when we walked some seven or eight kilometres in a group of 10 or so, and I chickened out of jumping the river. Probably wisely, but it made for a long run back.

From the Bishkek Museum, their copyright

Well they seem happy enough. Not sure of the significance of his badge but this is a very good depiction of the traditional Kyrgyz people. I envy them, to be honest. I'm sure they had more freedom than we think.